Solano

(April 16, 2013) In less than a month, tens of thousands of Bay Area commuters will take to the road and trails as part of San Francisco Bay Area’s 19th Annual Bike to Work Day. On Thursday, May 9th, the largest event in California that encourages bike commuting as a fun, affordable form of transportation that supports better health every day takes place throughout the nine counties. Over the last 19 years, Bike to Work Day has put more people on the road to bike commuting than any other event in the Bay Area.

Presented by 511.org, MTC and Kaiser Permanente, Bike to Work Day is the largest of many events during National Bike Month in May. Events include Team Bike Challenge where teams clock miles biked during May for a chance to win prizes and bragging rights. A Bike Commuter of the Year award is presented in each county for dedicated commuters, these individuals are inspiring bicycling in their community by example. (Nominations close April 22nd.)

Biking to work is a great way to get physical activity in before a workday. In addition to the heart health benefits, a Japanese study in the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health showed that men engaged in leisure-time exercise and cycling during commuting to work may be associated with better mental health.

Employers also benefit by encouraging employees to bike to work. Biking to work builds morale, reduces the number of sick days and the demand for car parking. Bike to Work Day will see hundreds of volunteers staff energizer stations throughout the SF Bay Area, offering complimentary refreshments, official reusable canvas bags, bicycle information and encouragement to push on.

Throughout May and on May 9th community events will be held by local bicycle coalitions and traffic congestion agencies throughout San Francisco, Sonoma, Solano, Napa, East Bay, Contra Costa, San Mateo, Silicon Valley and Alameda counties. For a complete list of stations and to register for a chance to win a Public Bikes bike, a Joshu Vela bag with MonkeyLectric lights or a ModCloth gift certificate visit the Bike to Work Day website.

Bike to Work’s Team Bike Challenge officially kicks off on May 1st, 2011, and registration is now open. Gather your friends, neighbors, and coworkers and pedal to win. It’s a fun and easy way to see just how much biking does for your health, budget, and the environment.

Here is how it works: form a team of 2-5 people and sign up at www.teambikechallenge.org. Earn points for each bike ride you take and your total daily mileage. Record your information via the website. Compete with your friends through the personalized Facebook Friends Leader board. You can also earn bonus points for completing various medal challenges, such as biking enough miles to burn a total pizza’s worth of calories. At the end of the month, the team with the most amounts of points wins.

Every member of a top scoring team from each county will receive a bike prize valued over $50. The top scoring team in the Bay Area receives a bike prize valued over $1,000.

The biking doesn’t have to stop when the Team Bike Challenge ends on May 31st arrives. You can still compete as an individual all year round by logging in your miles on the website. Track your total bike commuting benefits, including miles biked, calories burned, gas money saved, and pollution prevented. Bike your way to the top of the leader boards! Every month we will have a new leader board, so you can compete to be the top commuter each month.

If your business is too big to fit onto one team, then join the Company Bike Challenge. Compete for top honors against similar sized companies.

A special thanks to this year’s regional sponsors for Bike to Work Day: 511.org, Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Kaiser Permanente, Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Beyond Pix Studios, Clif Bar, REI, Adobe, and Bay Area Bicycle Coalition.
For more information on Bike to Work Day, please visit www.511.org or www.youcanbikethere.com.

San Francisco Bay Area’s 17th Annual Bike to Work Day, which will be held on May 12, 2011, aims to motivate non-bike riders and those already cycling to get involved. With bike riding’s many advantages like healthier living, reducing one’s footprint, and an affordable transportation alternative, Bike to Work Day is headed for a significant increase in participation in 2011. Biking to work is a great way to fulfill the requirement of 30+ minutes of physical activity per day needed to stay healthy.

Bike to Work events, presented by 511.org and Kaiser Permanente, will take place throughout the month including a Team Bike Challenge and Bike Commuter of the Year Awards. Additionally, local employers are urged to help encourage bike riding as more physically active employees are more alert, healthy and more productive.

“Bike riding benefits not only Bay Area residents’ health but the environment as well,” says Diana Rohini LaVigne, regional producer for Bike to Work Day. “Unfortunately, bike riding comes with misperceptions from what you must wear to being fit before even starting. But biking is for everyone. You don’t need special clothing, you don’t need special equipment, and you don’t need to already be in shape to take up biking. All you need to do is find your motivation and jump on.”

This year’s message is to find your inner motivation and reason to ride a bike and to go for it. It could be anything from reducing stress, losing weight, helping diminish global warming, or having bragging rights at the water cooler on the most distance traveled on a bike. Bike riders come in all different shapes and sizes, and no one should feel limited by their size, attire, equipment or speed. Bike riding is an equalizer and all are accepted. There are activities in all nine counties; Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma.